Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel has welcomed the support of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in the fight to reduce Chicago’s soaring crime rate, disregarding the leader’s history of anti-Semitic rants.

In his speech welcoming Farrakhan’s support, Emanuel, who is the first elected Jewish mayor of the city, said, “People of faith have a role to play and community leaders have a role to play in helping to protect our neighborhoods and our citizens. You cannot get there on just one piece of an anti-crime strategy.”

Farrakhan recently accused the Jews of controlling the American media and banking system saying, “you can’t go nowhere in their world without paying obeisance to them.”

Yet, according to the Chicago Sun Times, “Emmanuel is more concerned about reducing a 40 percent surge in Chicago homicides that’s become a media obsession and threatens to undermine his efforts to market Chicago to international tourists.”

“The police have a role to play. Tearing down abandoned buildings has a role to play. Shutting liquor stores that are a cancer in the community have a role to play. Community leaders have a role to play. Pastors have a role to play. Principals have a role to play. And most importantly, parents have roles to play. They have decided, the Nation of Islam, to help protect the community. And that’s an important ingredient, like all the other aspects of protecting a neighborhood,” the mayor said.

Deborah Silverman, a local Chicago area politician and Orthodox Jew, said that while Farrakhan’s commitment to fighting crime is a positive development, “it doesn’t eradicate the comments that he’s made about the Jewish community,” the Chicago Sun Times reported.